


Vampire Weekend

by nagi_schwarz



Series: Paint The Sky With Stars [58]
Category: Night World - L. J. Smith, Stargate Atlantis
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-15
Updated: 2017-07-15
Packaged: 2018-12-02 13:24:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,137
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11510325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nagi_schwarz/pseuds/nagi_schwarz
Summary: Written for the comment_fic prompt: "Any supernatural canon or AU, any, Vampire Weekend."Continues the AU version of First Contact/Lost Tribe. The Travelers enter the fray.





	Vampire Weekend

“How are we going to reach the _Daedalus_ now?” Dorsey asked, expression anxious. With the gate a smoldering ruin in the middle of the gate room, they had no way to dial out to a planet near the battle cruiser to ask for help.

Radek darted a look at Sheppard. He, Radek, and Amelia had been scanning all the signal traffic to figure out where Rodney and Daniel had been taken or at least where their kidnappers had originated from.

Dialing the gate to contact Woolsey was what had gotten them into this mess in the first place.

“We have at least one jumper that’s hyperspace-capable,” Sheppard said. “We could send it toward the _Daedalus_ and hope for subspace contact. Radek?”

“That is an option,” Radek said. He pointed to the screen. “Amelia, eliminate all of the signals in this frequency range. They are not subspace-capable.”

She obeyed, hands flying over the keyboard, and suddenly the signal map was much less crowded and illegible. Radek peered at it.

Dorsey had recalled all of the personnel who’d been evacuated pending gate explosion.

“What about our gate teams?” he asked. “If any of them try to dial back in, they won’t be able to.”

Chuck said, “There’s a chance that if they try to dial back in, the same thing could happen to them that happened to us.”

Except they didn’t have Atlantis’s shield and Sheppard and Delos’s magical blue fire to protect them from total annihilation.

Sheppard took a deep breath. “Right. Send the hyperdrive-jumper out to all the planets where we have teams, tell them not to attempt to dial anyone or anything and to get the hell away from the gate till further notice. Chuck, give him coordinates for all our away teams. Dorsey, select a jumper team. At least one natural Gene-carrier.”

Dorsey nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“How will we contact Woolsey?” Radek asked in a low voice.

Amelia cleared her throat. “We have an incoming transmission. No IDC.”

“Patch them through,” Sheppard said. He’d stepped up and assumed authority without question. Radek wasn’t going to question his decision, because for all that Sheppard was clearly irrational when it came to the question of Evan Lorne, he had much more experience than Major Dorsey when it came to being in command during a disaster like this one.

“We’re patched,” Amelia said. “Go for Atlantis.”

“This is Katana of the Travellers. Larrin sent me to find out what’s going on with the gates,” a woman said.

So it wasn’t happening just with Atlantis’s gate.

“Our gate has been destroyed,” Sheppard said. “What’s happening with your gates?”

Katana described how some of the Traveler ships were reporting seeing space gates explode and damage planets and some Grounder populations being affected as well.

“So you don’t know what’s happening either?” Katana asked.

“No,” Sheppard said, “and the one person who could figure it out has been kidnapped. Can you help us get him back? We sent our one hyperspace-capable ship out to warn our teams not to activate the gate and stay away from the gate on whatever planets they’re on.”

“What do you need?”

“A ride,” Sheppard said. “Chuck, walk Katana through docking procedures. We need to round up weapons and a team. Amelia, I want at least Teyla and a platoon of Marines, most of them Gene-carriers.”

“A ride we can do,” Katana said. “We’re coming in.”

Sheppard turned to Radek. “Where are we on a location?”

“Amelia needs to weed out some more signals,” Radek said, “but I am already building a location algorithm.”

Sheppard leaned in. “Show me what you’ve got.”

Radek nudged his notebook toward Sheppard, who scooped up a pen and began attacking it. He had cramped, spidery scrawl, but he was fast. So fast. Had he been this smart all this time? Of course he must have been. No wonder he could put up with Rodney, soulmates aside.

Katana of the Travelers was beautiful, dark-skinned with glossy dark hair, a leather-tacular outfit, and bright eyes. She strode confidently into Ops.

“So, you’re John Sheppard.” She looked him up and down.

The smirk he flashed her would have had Rodney squawking and making _Kirk_ accusations. “Larrin told you about me, huh?”

“She barely talks about you. All she said was for me to reach out to you,” Katana said. “Where do you need a ride to?”

“First things first,” Sheppard said, “is we need to reach out to the _Daedalus_ and let them know what’s going on, see if they know the cause of the massive gate system malfunctions. So we’ll need to head for M5R-179 and get into radio contact with them. By then, Radek and I should have figured out Rodney and Jackson’s location.”

Katana nodded. “Who kidnapped your friends?”

“Never encountered them before,” Sheppard said. “Radek, pull up the security footage. Maybe you recognize them, from your travels?”

Katana leaned over the console beside Radek, and he very politely averted his gaze from her slender, curvaceous form and typed. He showed her the security footage, got her the best image of the attackers available, careful to avoid showing Delos and Sheppard in vampire mode.

She shook her head. “Don’t recognize them.”

“What about their ship?” Radek toggled to footage from the exterior cameras.

“Never seen anything like it either. Sorry.”

“Radek,” Sheppard said, “Delos, you’re with me on the away team.” He tapped his radio. “Dorsey, you and Kusanagi are in command. Let’s go.” He was still scribbling away at the calculations.

Radek hated going offworld, but he nodded. “Yes, Colonel.” He gathered up his laptop and other essential gear for going offworld. “Ready when you are.”

Sheppard flicked a glance over him. “Go to the ready room, get a tac vest and a sidearm. I’ll meet you there.”

Radek nodded. “Yes, Colonel.”

Katana straightened up, smiled at him. “Can I come with? I’ve always wanted to see the City of the Ancestors. I heard so much about them, growing up.”

Radek darted a glance at Sheppard, questioning.

Sheppard shoved Delos on the shoulder. “You, go with them, get a vest and pistol as well.”

“But I -” Delos began.

Sheppard fixed him with a look. For one second his eyes blazed silver, and Radek shivered. Delos nodded at something unspoken - or perhaps telepathic - and said, “I will go with you, Radek, Miss Katana.”

Katana straightened up, looked Delos up and down. Like John, he was sharply handsome, fine-featured, like some Ikons Radek had seen in his youth. “Who are you?”

“Dr. Delos Redfern,” he said. “I work with Dr. Zelenka here.”

Together, the three of them headed for the ready room. Katana peppered Delos with questions about Atlantis, but he confessed he was new, had only been on the city for a few days. In the ready room, Radek and Delos were given tac vests and pistols. Delos asked the quartermaster if the man had a saber or a foil or, more preferably, a broadsword. The quartermaster was torn between being confused and amused and finally said,

“Sorry, Doc. No swords here. Unless you have your own?”

“I didn’t think to bring any. I didn’t think I’d be going into battle,” Delos murmured, buckling on his vest. “But thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Doc. Anything for the lady?”

Katana put a hand to the pistol at her hip. “I have all I need.”

“All right.”

Radek adjusted the holster for the pistol as best as he could, figured he could grab it in an emergency, and then it was down to the gate room with Sheppard, Toriel, Mehra, Vega, and a handful of other gene-carrying Marines, plus a fully-armed Teyla.

Radek wasn’t sure what to expect out of a Traveler ship. It was basically a rustbucket, cobbled together out of old parts connected by spit and a prayer. They were on the bridge with Katana, Radek analyzing the data Amelia had compiled about signals that could lead to Rodney and Jackson’s location. While Sheppard was giving Katana’s pilot coordinates to the planet where they could reach the _Daedalus_ over the radios, Radek was whittling down all the noise to just the right signal.

He isolated the frequency that the stolen device had been broadcasting from just as the Traveler ship came out of hyperspace near M5R-179.

“Fire up the radios,” Sheppard said.

One of the Traveler engineers nodded, hands flying over the console. Radek eyed him. He had a tattoo on the side of his neck that was kind of like Ronon’s. Had some Satedans joined the Travelers? Maybe it was just a tattoo.

Sheppard leaned in to speak. “ _Daedalus_ , this is Sheppard. Do you read?”

A video transmission opened up. Radek glanced up briefly, started running calculations.

And then a Wraith said, “John Sheppard, we read.”

Radek looked up sharply.

“Todd,” Sheppard said flatly. “Where’s Woolsey?”

“We are in command of this vessel until you shut off the Attero device,” the Wraith said.

Todd? Sheppard had named him _Todd?_

“I don’t know of any device,” Sheppard said.

“The device that makes Wraith ships explode when they try to enter hyperspace,” the Wraith said. “Shut it off, or we will start killing your people.”

“Does that device also make stargates explode?”

“When someone tries to dial out, yes.”

Sheppard’s expression was grim. “We don’t have the device. It was stolen from us by enemies who attacked us.”

“A likely story,” the Wraith snapped.

And then Sheppard leaned in and hissed, bared his fangs, and all of the Traveler crew recoiled. “Don’t forget,” Sheppard said, “we traded life. Either you help me, or all of our people die, mine and yours.”

“Why would I help you?”

“Because we know where the device is.”

“Give me the location of the device.”

“The location of the device is irrelevant if you can’t turn it off. We know who can turn it off.”

“Then give them to us -”

“They’re with the device. We have to rescue them.”

“We can just destroy the device,” the Wraith said.

“If you kill them,” Sheppard said, “all treaties are off. If you kill them, we will find you, and we will _end_ you.”

The Wraith sneered. “You do not frighten me, even if you are stronger than the other humans.” There was a paused when he went off-screen, and he returned with Woolsey in tow. “If you do not give me the information I want, I will kill one member of your crew every minute.”

Sheppard hissed and bared his fangs again. “I can live just as long as you, and I will not forget -”

“I will feast on Richard Woolsey before your eyes!” the Wraith snarled.

“Sheppard!” Woolsey whimpered.

Delos closed his hand over Sheppard’s arm. “Cousin, I know he’s your soulmate, but you must not lose sight of your duties.”

“John,” Teyla said softly.

“Radek,” Sheppard said, “do you have those coordinates?”

“I do,” Radek said.

“Transmit them,” Sheppard said.

Radek handed them to the Satedan-looking engineer, who input them with shaking hands. He looked terrified of Sheppard.

The transmission cut off.

The engineer said, “Hyperspace window is opening.”

Sheppard said, “Follow.”

Moments later, Radek, Sheppard, and Delos were in the engine room with Katana and a girl who looked barely thirteen, though she said she was fifteen.

“We need to make sure the hyperdrive is capable of running at max,” Radek said to the girl. “So we can reach the planet in time, before the Wraith get there.”

The girl - Mila - nodded. “Right. Maximum burn. I’ll make sure it happens.” She tapped the side of a burner coil with her wrench, winced when there was a clang inside. She smiled brightly. “Everything’s fine.”

“Sure it is,” Radek said slowly.

Sheppard clapped him on the shoulder, his smile jovial but his gaze blazing silver and intense. “I know you’ve got this. Let’s go.” He nodded at Delos, and the two of them left the engine room.

Radek rolled up his sleeves. “All right, Miss Mila. Show me how this engine works.”

The engine was frightening in its complexity, if only because it was wired together out of whatever Mila could make stick, but she had a good grasp of mechanics, so between the two of them, they got the hyperdrive up to full burn.

Once the hyperdrive was in full burn, Sheppard summoned Radek to the bridge.

He and Delos were standing behind Katana, gazing out the viewport as the impossible colors of hyperspace danced around them.

“What’s the plan?” Radek asked, even though the plans had nothing to do with him, since he wasn’t part of combat.

Sheppard grinned, again displaying those frightening fangs. Katana and the others flinched away from him.

“It’s a vampire weekend. You ready, Cousin?”

Delos nodded, and his eyes blazed silver, just like John’s, and for a moment they were nearly twins, pale-skinned and dark-haired and silver-eyed and too beautiful to be human.

Teyla and the rest of the Marines were gathered behind Katana, also looking nervous, though Teyla was the calmest of all of them.

The ship dropped out of hyperspace beside a planet that looked burned out - rusts and mustards and beiges. The _Daedalus_ was already there.

“It’s charging weapons,” the engineer said.

“Can we get close enough to the planet to deploy troops?” Sheppard asked.

“Negative.” The engineer swore when an alarm went off. “There’s a ship coming from the surface of the planet.”

Radek leaned closer to the viewport. “That’s it - the ship that attacked Atlantis.”

The engineer swore again, and Katana yelled, “Brace yourselves!”

Plasma bursts launched from the enemy ship toward the _Daedalus_. A second volley immediately launched toward the Traveler ship. Katana screamed for evasive maneuvers, and the ship lurched.

Radek’s stomach rolled, and he hung grimly onto the back of the engineer’s chair. The only ones who maintained any balance were Sheppard and Delos as the ship shook and turned.

There was a shout for return fire, and then the _Daedalus_ was firing back at the enemy ship too, but it was breathlessly fast, had incredible maneuverability, veritably dancing in space to avoid the _Daedalus_ and Traveler fire.

“Rodney and Daniel are down on that planet,” Sheppard said grimly. “We have to get down there. We have to shut down that machine. Can we get closer?”

“No,” Katana said. “What we need is backup.” She slapped at a comm engineer’s chair. “Call for backup!”

Weapons were blazing, the ship was twisting and turning, and a dozen voices were shouting commands and questions and instructions and suggestions.

The _Daedalus_ and the other enemy ship had both turned on the Traveler ship, and Radek began to recall, in vivid detail, everything he knew about being burned alive by plasma, or dying in the vacuum of space, or -

A hyperspace window opened, and another ship came blazing across the sky.

Captain Vega swore.

“It’s our backup,” Katana said.

Sheppard said, “Tell them not to fire on the _Daedalus_ \- our people are on there too.”

Katana nodded tersely. “Roger that. Hail them.”

The comm engineer tapped several buttons, then said, “ _Surrita_ , this is _Manatan_ , mark?”

“Mark, _Manatan_.”

“Do not fire on the Lantean vessel. Hear?”

“Hear. Opening fire on enemy vessel.” The other ship’s comm engineer’s voice was crackling with static.

“Hurry it up,” Katana said, “because both of them are shooting at us!”

Radek peered anxiously at the weapons console. “Are they powering weapons? I don’t see them powering weapons.”

The enemy ship launched another plasma volley.

Radek squeezed his eyes shut and ducked instinctively behind the engineer’s chair.

Cheers rose up all around up.

Radek opened his eyes and popped back up to his feet and saw the enemy ship. It was totally swallowed in blue-white fire, like the kind of fire Sheppard and Delos had used to contain the nearly-exploding gate.

All of the Travelers were cheering and hugging each other, but Delos and Sheppard looked horrified, and Teyla and the Marines looked frightened as well.

“Incoming transmission,” the comm engineer said.

“Open a channel.” Katana pushed past Radek and Sheppard and Delos and leaned over the communication console. “This is Katana of the Travelers.”

It was the Wraith on the screen once more.

“We will surrender,” he said, “if you stop killing my people.”

Radek had never seen a Wraith look terrified before.

“We’re not killing your people,” Katana said slowly.

“My people are being consumed by blue fire,” the Wraith snarled, terrified and furious.

Sheppard cast Delos a wild look, but he shrugged helplessly.

“It’s really not us,” Sheppard said.

“We have another incoming transmission,” the comm engineer said.

Katana made an impatient gesture with one hand.

“Pegasus has conference calls. Who knew?” Radek said faintly.

“Do you surrender?” a man demanded.

Radek knew that voice. Impossible. Or was it?

Sheppard went still as soon as he heard it. Teyla also went still. And then she asked, “Aiden?”

“Hey, Teyla. Be with you in a moment. Do you surrender, Wraith?”

“We surrender,” he said.

“Then bring the ship down to the planet’s surface,” Aiden Ford commanded. “If you try anything funny, we’ll start killing more of your people. Do you understand?”

The Wraith bowed his head. “I understand. I will surrender to Mr. Woolsey and the Lantean crew.”

He stepped back, and two _Daedalus_ Marines grabbed him.

“See you on the surface,” Ford said. “See you there too, Teyla?”

“Aiden,” she said, “we must rescue Rodney and Daniel Jackson. They are the only ones who can turn off the device that is causing the Stargates to explode.”

“Rodney and Jackson? Really? All right. We’ll do what needs to be done.”

Katana leaned in to the mic. “Are our people all right?”

“No losses reported so far, and none from our allies,” Ford said.

“ _Your_ allies?” Sheppard echoed.

“Colonel Sheppard, sir.” Ford sounded surprised and pleased. “It’s good to hear your voice. Yes, the Travelers have allies besides Atlantis. All that traveling. See you on the ground?”

“See you on the ground.”

Radek wondered if it was too late to make run for the engine room.

Sheppard caught his arm. “Radek, have you ever seen an energy weapon like that before?”

“No,” he admitted.

Sheppard reached into his pocket, drew out a pencil, and carved a gouge into his own arm. Katana yelped and recoiled sharply.

“Be ready, Cousin.” He handed the pencil to Delos, who casually injured himself as well.

To Katana, Sheppard said, “Take us down.”

She nodded, but she cast frightened looks at Teyla and Radek. Radek slid closer to her. He didn’t dare whisper, because Sheppard and Delos would hear, but he eased a hand over to the comm console. She nodded, and the engineer lifted his hands away.

Radek sent a message back to Atlantis.

 _Backup to the following coordinates. Send gene carriers_.

The ship began to descend.


End file.
